cruickshank



` (N0-Modem Y G. M. CRUICKSHANK.

v DIE FOR GOVE'RIITG` WIRE WITH INSULATING ISLIATBR-IA'L.Y

No. 326,021.y

l Patented 8, 1885.

W2 155555. ,607g if UNITED STATES PATENT OEEreE.

GEORGE M. CRUICKSPIANK, OE PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAN DIE'FOR COVERING WIREWITH INSULATING MATERIAL.

sPEcrF'IcATIoN forming part of Letters Patent No. 32e,o21, datedseptember e. 1885- Application filed Se; tomber 3, 1884-. (No model.) i

To @ZZ whom it may concern.:

Beit known that I, GEO. M. OnureusuaNK,`

a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, residing at Providence, in thecounty of Providence and State of Rhode Island, have invented certainnew and useful Improvements in Dies for Covering Wire With InsulatingMaterial; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,

clear, 'and exact description of the invention,

such as will enable others skilled inthe art to which it appertains tomake and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,and to `letters or iigures of reference marked thereon, which form apart of this specification.

My invention relates to machines adapted for the covering of one or morewires `with an` insulating material, and as an illustration of thisclass `of machines Iwould refer to United States Patent No. 37,112,issued to Thomas Sault, December 9, 1862, and to United States ReissuePatent No. 9,988, granted to Henry A. Clark, December 27, 1881.

- `The object of'this inventionis to provide the machine with improveddies, whereby the wires of the compound cable issuing therefrom areuniformly covered and surrounded by the insulating material, said'wiresat'thesame time retaining their relative and exact position orarrangement with each other and to 'the axis of the cable Which theylirst had in entering the dies.

Heretofore, as far as I am informed, com pound cables thusconstruetcd,upon being cut transi versely, show the wires displaced, insome .instances the wires being almost orquite in contact With eachother, thus obviously neutralizing the insulation. Further, also, thewires in the completed cable almost invariably present an eccentric ornon-central and irregular arrangement with reference to the peripheralsurface of the cable. These defects are partially caused by means of thefree end of the wire-guiding die being forced or sprung to one sideduring the process of pressing the insulati ng material around thewires. 'Heretofore, also, the end of the die from. which the wires issuehas been practically square with the axis of the die, thereby forcingthe coating material to impinge against all the wires at once, which inpractice is found to be detrimental shape, thereby adapting the centerWire to'be first completely coated, followed in turn by the remainingand surrounding wires of the series'. i

rIhe invention further consists in providing a portion of the exteriorof said die with guide-Wings, in combination with the annular or shapingdie, whereby the insulating material in its passagethrough saidshaping-die is prevented from forcing or crowding 'laterally the Wireguiding die.

In the accompanying sheet of drawings, Figurel represents in reducedscale a plan view of a machine, in partial section, embodying myinvention, as adapted to cover Wire With insulated material. Fig. 2 isan enlarged sectional view of a portion of the rear end of Vthe machine,showing the improved dies in position as in use. Fig. 3 is an end viewof the wire-guiding die. Fig. et is an end view of the shaping orannular die. Fig. 5 is a View showing the two dies in position with thewires removed, the shapingdie being in section. Fig. 6 is a crosssectional view of the dies, showing a modified construction ofthe wireguiding die. Fig. 7 isahorizontal sectional view of the same, the outerdie being removed; and Fig. 8 represents a cross-section of the compoundcable, showing f in this and in all the other views a series of sixWires.

Again referring to the drawings, A deslgnates the wire-guiding die,having holes w i therein, which extend throughout its length, said holesbeing adapted to receive the wiresV w, the inner or tip tend, T, ofthedie terminating in the annular point a', which latter receives thecenter Wire of the series. The tip Tis preferably made of hardenedsteel, adapted to' be connected with the barrel rof said die. The tipapproximates a cylindrical form at a, from which it extends into thebeveled or con- IOO cave surface a4, and joining with the end of thebarrel portion a2. The said cylindrical portion c3 1s turned off, asshown, thereby vpartially Yexposing the lowcr side of the circular rowof holes w, (see Figs. 2, 5, and 7,) which Vforms an under support orrest, against which the wires are pressed during the process of coating.The other portion of the die A is provided with means for securing itwithin the machine, the holes w being adapted to coincide with those ofthe tip before described.

B designates thehollow shaping die, adapted to be secured within themachine. The inner end of the die is made flaring internally at m andconnects with the central die-opening, b, the latter being in itscross-section of the size and form of the compound cable to beproduced-in other words, it serves as the shaping-die for the cable.

The die Aris provided exteriorly, near the end of its barrel portion a2,with guide-wings a, which are turned off to iit within the end m of thedie B. These wings or guides serve to center the wires w within thedie-opening b', (see Fig. 2,) and at the same time preserve a uniformopening7 m, Fig. 6, through which the insulating material is forced.Said wings being narrow and rounded at u', oer very little resistance tothe entrance of the material.

The operation of the invention may be described as follows: A cylinder,E, which may be steam -j acketed, is secured to a frame, E', as common.Within the cylinder is mounted a conveyer-'screw, D, which is driven bycompound gearing, also as common. At or near the rear end of saidcylinder (see Fig. l) are secured the wire-guiding die A andtheshaping-die B. Now, the wires "w are passed through the dieslongitudinally, when, by feeding the insulating compound into theopening c of the cylinder, the compound is forced along by means of thescrew D to the rear end thereof, from whence it enters the die B throughthe-apertures m, the guide-wings u preventing the material from crowdingthe end of the die A with its wires from its true axial center. Thematerial now first encounters the outer row of wires and completelysurrounds the exposed' surface thereof, the lower surface at the sametime resting in the grooves of the die at a, thereby preventing' saidwires from being pressed or compacted out of position. A furthermovement of the screw forces the material and outer row of wires alonguntil the end a is passed, at which point the center wire, as well asall the others, become completely covered and insulated, the issuingcable R being represented full size in Figl8. The cable is now perfectlyadapted to be vulcanized (when requisite) by means of the process shownand described in United States Patent No. 277,019, issued to Albert C.Eddy May 8, 1.883.

.having a rectangular cross-section.

It is'obvious that my improved dies may be adapted to cover a singlewire or any practicable number of wires', even if arranged in two ormore circular rows, without departing from the spirit of the invention.The dies also may be arranged to produce compound cables Such cables maybe coated continuously for a great length, and adapted to be used fortelegraphic, telephonie, and other analogous purposes.

As hereinbefore stated, I do not claim the machine as a whole adapted toproduce insulated-wire cables; neither do I Vclaim the compoundinsulated-wire cable as my invention, as such machines and cables havebeen made heretofore. Such cables, however, have been imperfeotlyproduced prior to my invention, more especially when insulated with veryrich or pure rubber, the latter class of material requiring greatlyincreased pressures within the dies in forming the cable compared withpoorer and less expensive compounds.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, iS?- 1. In a wire-guiding die, the elongated end ortip T herein described, the outer end thereof having a central holearound which are arranged one or more rows of holes, the under surfaceof the latter being exposed, substantially as shown, and for the purposeset forth.

2. In a wire-guiding die having the grooved and apertnred elongated tipT herein described, the guide-wings u, arranged and secured to theexterior of the barrel of said die and near the end thereof,substantially as and for the purpose set forth. Y Y

3. In a machine adapted for making insulated wire cables, thecombination of t-he shaping-die B with the wire-guiding die, the latterbeing provided with the elongated tip T, having grooves and holes wtherein, said dies being arranged in relation to each other and adaptedfor use substantially as shown, and for the purpose set forth.

4. In a machine adapted for making insulated-wire cables,thereombination of the shap- IOO ing-die B with the wire-guiding Ydi@ A,the l.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature in presence of twowitnesses.

GEO. M. GRUIGKSIIAI\TK.V

Witnesses: Y

Gno. H. REMINGTON, Orr/murs IIANNIGAN.

